23 April 2013: Steve Hillage et al "Cyberwar" Soundtrack and Area, Italian jazz fusion

        Cyberwar, a video game loosely based on Lawnmower Man, consists of three discs but also includes a CD with the soundtrack featured in the game. The soundtrack includes a number of tracks scored and played by Steve Hillage of Gong and System 7.   Copies of the soundtrack are very rare and difficult to come by as the CD itself was never available as a separate release.
        The game was briefly popular in the 1990s:  The player is assigned the role of Dr. Angelo, sent in to Virtual Reality to defeat Jobe, who, in the film was born simple but increased his brain capacity by 400% using Virtual Reality. He eventually leaves his physical body and enters VR permanently. The various gameplay elements are based on the Virtual Reality segments seen in the original film. For instance, one of the levels has the player flying through tunnels avoiding multiple objects, much like one of the games in the film.
       The game did not have multiple lives, but just one - if the player missed any part of any challenge, he would be sent to the "cyber-hell" where he would die. This proved brutal to many who played this game, but the puzzles were colorful and innovative - at least one required the player to remember a code from the first disc to be used in a room on the second disc. If the player entered the wrong code, he would die. 
      This game is now very rare but can sometimes be found on auction sites.

           Arbeit macht frei is the debut album of the Jazz fusion band Area. It is notable for featuring Patrick Djivas (which is now known better for his work with Premiata Forneria Marconi) on bass and Eddie Busnello on saxophone, which parted after the release of the album. According to the booklet the lyrics were written by Frankestein (which is an alias for Gianni Sassi), and the music was written by Patrizio Fariselli. "Luglio, Agosto, Settembre (nero)" became Area's first hit (even if most of the 7" censored the word "nero", which was a reference to Black September). It was only released as a juke box only item, and the b-side was the song "Miña" by Italian prog band Aktuala. On the posthumous live release "Concerto Teatro Uomo", Demetrio Stratos says that "L'abbattimento dello Zeppelin" was composed after a pub on which they were playing asked them to perform "Whole Lotta Love". They didn't know the song and played that one instead, and they got fired. Guitarist Paolo Tofani can be heard quoting the main riff during his solo. "L'abbattimento dello Zeppelin" was also released as a 7", backed by the title track of the album, but failed to hit any charts.
           "Arbeit macht frei" (German pronunciation: [ˈaɐ̯baɪt ˈmaxt ˈfʁaɪ]) is a German phrase meaning "labour makes (you) free".[1] The slogan is known for having been placed over the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps during World War II, including most infamously Auschwitz I, where it was made by prisoners with metalwork skills and erected by order of the Nazis in June 1940.

Track listing 

Side one

  1. "Luglio, Agosto, Settembre (nero)" – 4:27
  2. "Arbeit macht frei" – 7:56
  3. "Consapevolezza" – 6:06

Side two

  1. "Le labbra del tempo" – 6:00
  2. "240 chilometri da Smirne" – 5:10
  3. "L’abbattimento dello Zeppelin" – 6:45

Personnel

  • Eddie Busnello - Saxophone
  • Giulio Capiozzo - Drums, Percussion
  • Patrick Djivas - Bass, Double Bass
  • Patrizio Fariselli - Piano
  • Demetrio Stratos - Vocals, Organ, Steel Drums
  • Giampaolo Tofani - Guitar, Synthesizer
  • Ria Gaetano - Engineering